The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

The return of the goddess of creation was the best news for the surviving guardians and sprites. After the collapse of the old era, nothing pleased them more than the safe return of their “mother”, who had shaped the glory years. Even the ever-serious conservative giants held quite a grand celebration this time—right at the Heart of Destiny, around the new shrine of Yggdrasil.

Although the threat of the Mad Lord still existed and was more pressing than ever before, the celebration was needed. It would not only dispel the lingering gloom in everyone’s mind but also boost their fighting spirit for the coming battle. And more importantly, if there were any surviving planets in the universe that still held belief in the goddess of creation, then those who struggled in the dark could find comfort in the celebration.

In Holletta, for instance, all worshippers were told about the goddess of creation’s return, and far, far away in the dark depths of the universe, the guardian giants received a couple of messages too. While the news was a far cry from the glorious days of the past, it provided a spark of relief.

At least, they knew that many of their people had survived.

However, after a brief celebration, the goddess did not continue to play with the merry sprites. Instead, she returned to the depths of the shrine alone.

At the center of the shrine, the textbooks from the Galacticus Lords had been removed from the box and placed neatly on the shelves nearby. Right then, there were a few busy sprites among the shelves.

Rheia approached one of the bookshelves. According to the timetable Hao Ren left, the books had been arranged by subject and difficulty; she just had to follow the study plan so she did not pay attention to the books around her but merely pulled out the first book in the first row.

“Introduction to Gods…” Rheia rubbed the cover of the large leathery book and read the words lightly. She then carried it to her desk. “Hopefully these books will work well…”

A few sprites came bounding over to the desk. “Goddess! You want to read?”

“Goddess, do you want to play first?”

“Goddess, don’t forget to have another lesson and practice once you’ve finished your self-studying—Hao Ren told us!”

Rheia gently pushed the little ones away. “Go and watch at the door. If there’s nothing particularly important, just tell whoever it is that I have to do my homework and I don’t want to be interrupted.”

After the sprites left, she opened the book with a mixture of anxiety and curiosity, then concentrated her mind on the title page with a touch of divine power.

An unexpected passage suddenly appeared.

“To my child whom I have never met:

“By the time you read this, I should be fighting on the distant frontier to prevent the abyss from eroding and destroying the World of Order. I should have taught you and shown you how to use our great power, but power meant duty, so I could not leave the front. I could only deliver these books to you in the hopes that they may help you.

“My child, you have inherited a strong and glorious bloodline. The history of this bloodline can be traced back to the time when the infinite void was first established. At the beginning of all history, and even before it, our bloodlines have existed, and our ancestors have defended the balance of the orderly world with courage, strength, and wisdom, mainly the first two of course—but it does not matter.

“What you need to know is that from the moment you inherited this bloodline, you were destined to be a fearless warrior. It is our way of survival, to fight endlessly on the path we have taken. There are no thoughts of setbacks, no thoughts of victory, no thoughts of defeat, no thoughts of obstacles, and no thoughts of desperate situations. Well, I admit that this is not my way of speaking, but anyway, my central message is that our family tradition is to ‘keep fighting’. If you can keep your determination and your will burning, turn the page.

“—Your Mother.”

Rheia was clueless.

Well, she wanted to close the book and put it back on the shelf at that moment, but she could not help turning the page.

As she flipped the pages, Rheia fell into a trance and the space around her turned upside down. Even her powers as a true god could not stop the change. When everything settled down, she found herself in a strange space.

There was endless mist around her, and the shimmering mist pervaded the space. Under her feet was a layer of water as calm as a mirror. It rippled when she stepped on it, but no matter how hard she stomped on it, she could not feel the depth of the water.

Knowing that the space was harmless, Rheia did not panic but look around curiously. Realizing that there had to be a reason that the book dragged her into the space, she suppressed the idea of walking around and waited patiently for the next change.

“Calm and cool-headed. Good.”

A voice suddenly came from the mist. Then, a tall figure suddenly appeared, as though she had been standing there from the beginning and had not been noticed until now.

The figure gradually became clear, and Rheia saw a woman with a slight resemblance to her emerge from the mist. The woman had the same silvery hair and blood-colored eyes. She was wearing a black evening dress, and she had long hair that reached to her ankles. Cool and majestic vibes emanated from the figure. Although it was only a projection, it felt so real.

“You are… my mother?” Rheia asked, not quite sure. Though the woman seemed to speak in a different way than she had imagined, she made the guess, considering the words that appeared on the page and the possible role of the space.

“Bryndis, the Dark Valkyrie,” replied the woman, pointing at herself. “I am out fighting at the moment, of course, and what you see in front of you right now is just a projection of my mind, but it should be enough to answer many of your questions.”

Rheia did not care what she was. It was the first time she had met her “mother”. A mixture of curiosity and nervousness left her a little bewildered. Being careful, she asked, “Are you here to teach me something?”

The Dark Valkyrie shook her head. “No, I am here just to show you something.”

“Show me something?”

“Yes, but before I do, I have a question for you.” She paused for a moment before asking, “Are you starting to feel hesitant?”

Rheia tried to explain herself or think of some euphemism that would make her feel less embarrassed, but in the end, she nodded gently and replied, “Yes.”

It was the first time she had admitted it in front of another person.

“Let me see… Is it the pressure from the Mad Lord? No, definitely not. No one in my bloodline can be affected by such pressure, so… you’ve realized that a lot of your hard work isn’t paying off.”

“The world was once full of life. Some were created by me, and some were born by nature. For a long time, all of my actions and plans were to protect the living world,” Rheia said slowly. “It was hard, but I had a clear purpose so I never hesitated… But now, almost all of the planets I protected have been destroyed… I left behind the solutions, but in the end, almost no one was saved.”

The figure did not speak but look quietly at Rheia.

“Mother, I do not know what a qualified god is like. In fact, even as a mere protector of mortals, I do not know how far I can go. If nothing we do can change the end results, and we fight to protect a world yet it still gets destroyed, then what is the point of all this?”

The figure continued to look at Rheia quietly until she almost turned her eyes away. “Do you know how mortals fight against the end of the world?” the figure broke her silence.

“Huh?”

The figure did not speak but waved her arm gently.

An endless mist immediately cleared, and images suddenly appeared over the still water, which stretched as far as the eyes could see.

It was another world in the endless void.